Back(B)log

April 21, 2014

The Mermaid's Tears

The sea-birds break their vigil and head for the shore,
The tiny plankton in the waters light up with their neon glow,
The rolling Wind calms him down and utters a last whimper,
As the Sun drops to the horizon with nary a sighed whisper.

The sailors let the anchor down aboard their sailing ship,
The frothy white-caps surge ahead to signal the period of neap,
The crabs on cue, form a queue and come skittering out of their holes,
As the Day-bringer paints the seas in hues of burning coals.

Beneath the skies of burnished copper and clouds of blazing gold,
Amid the peace and serenity unchanged from days of old,
Alone, in the middle of the sea, betwixt the coast and Aubade,
Sat despairing upon a desolate rock, the disconsolate sea-maid.

Clothed in green-glimmering scales and alabaster skin,
A beauteous face and full of grace; she seemed Aphrodite's kin,
With wind-swept locks of shining silver and cheeks stained with her tears,
She wept and sobbed; and wailed and called; all to unheeding ears.

She cried out to the lofty albatross and the departing gulls,
She called out to the prancing dolphins and the walrus bulls,
She pled the setting Day-keeper and the rising Moon,
Could they help her with her plight; would they grant her a boon.

A task of no great magnitude for such illustrious beings,
An errand they could perform; to alleviate her grieving,
She implored them to bring her news, from their travels far and near,
Of the fate that befell the mortal man; the one she loved so dear.

Everyday he would row his boat to that lonely isle,
To sing of his love for her and sit beside her for awhile,
But a year had passed since he last; had helmed his sturdy boat,
A year she scryed the horizon for a sign of his hat or coat.

Now she feared and fretted the worst had come to pass,
She cursed and blamed her own fate for the romantic impasse,
She worried and vexed his wandering ways had but led him afar,
She  damned and curst herself for letting her heart be touched by char.

She reckoned her Love locked away and wasting in a tower,
Unheard, unseen by any, but for the ivy on the bower,
She imagined her fair sailor shipwrecked and lost at sea,
Encompassed by miles of water as far as his eye could see.

She prayed he wasn't aboard a merchantman besieged by privateers,
Or caught up in some terminal illness that brought life to all his fears,
She hoped he hadn't hurt his crown and roamed the land unmindful,
Or had fallen to the winsome charms of some witch wicked and powerful.

But try as she might to try ease her plight, the creatures paid no heed,
Nor the luminous orbs in the skies, agreed to do the deed,
For they all knew the fate of the one for whom she bore her penance,
But Fear turned their tongues to stone and they spoke not a sentence.

A year ago, as they knew, the young sailor set to sea,
For to meet his mermaid fair; his tryst with destiny,
He knew not his voyage was doomed; that the Ocean bore a malice,
That He, the Sea envied lovers and had drunk from Jealousy's chalice.

The rippling, stormy Ocean yearned for the calm, sturdy Land,
And sent His waves again and again just to touch Her sand,
But try as He might, since dawn of time, He could never be with his Love,
For such is the fate of the Sea and the Shore who earned the curse of Jove.

Eternally and for all time, His frothy horses charged the beach,
Ever and anon He tried; but She seemed always beyond reach,
He longed to hold Her to him and cover the Land with water,
To be as one, and not sundered; without a corporeal border.

But to His sorrow, He failed always to gain that which He desired,
For all His attempts with his tides, the Land always seemed higher,
Thus He bore unquenchable hate for all who had found Love,
And tried his best without a rest to thwart winged Cupid's bow.

That fateful day as the birds and the beasts watched with abject terror,
His sent his wave to engulf the boat; not by chance or error,
The waking Helios stood aghast as downing Selene wept,
As Ocean grasped the poor seaman and sent him off to Death.

Time, it seemed to stop awhile as the mariner struggled on,
On him, the pitiless Ocean, proceeded to bear down upon,
The Seafarer sank to the depths; no hold on breath or Life,
And fell to Darkness' bosom, bereft of Hope or Strife.

There among the rainbow corals and the brilliant fish-stars,
There between the glistening pearls in their oyster jars,
There amidst Neptune's treasures, as just a conquered jewel,
Lay the youthful sailor, undeserving of an end so cruel.

Silently, the beasts and the globes, tried to give her comfort,
Yet the siren held on to Misery, despite all their effort,
She swore her lover would show and he had never lied,
So she vowed to stay on the rock till the day she died.

Now still She waits, years untold, a speck in the heart of blue,
Adamant and trusting in her love, unaware of the Sea's coup,
The waters rolls as Ocean laughs at the mermaid's tears,
Reveling in his defeat of Cupid, just one of his many in a year.

April 16, 2014

Pattern

The night sets softly
With the hush of falling leaves,
Casting shivering shadows
On the houses through the trees,
And the light from a street lamp
Paints a pattern on my wall,
Like the pieces of a puzzle
Or a child's uneven scrawl.

Up a narrow flight of stairs
In a narrow little room,
As I lie upon my bed
In the early evening gloom.
Impaled on my wall
My eyes can dimly see
The pattern of my life
And the puzzle that is me.

From the moment of my birth
To the instant of my death,
There are patterns I must follow
Just as I must breathe each breath.
Like a rat in a maze
The path before me lies,
And the pattern never alters
Until the rat dies.

And the pattern still remains
On the wall where darkness fell,
And it's fitting that it should,
For in darkness I must dwell.
Like the color of my skin,
Or the day that I grow old,
My life is made of patterns
That can scarcely be controlled.
- Paul Simon